T-Money

They planned and executed the
fraud flawlessly
There were four of them in all
They were working at the pension
and gratuity office at the time
He wasn't really a staff
He was a student of a polytechnic who
was placed in the office for his industrial
attachment
He could barely speak English
but he was an indigene and could easily
blend in
He was the chameleon
The one the other three sent out to
make investigations about dead
pensioners whose documents
they could process
That was what their fraud was about
They process the document of pensioners
and claim their gratuity and other
benefits from the government
It wasn't a complex scheme in any way
He browses through the file of pensioners
looking at unclaimed pensions
His area of interest is usually the age
Once he can establish that such a person
is in his late seventies or eighties,
he would go to the house of such to
speak to the family
He would present his identity card as
a staff of the organization and ask legitimate
questions about the person
Once it is established that such is dead
he would report to his immediate boss
His immediate boss will generate the
profile of the person or a next of kin
Affidavits would be sworn and the
benefits processed
A third party's account would be 
provided and credited
Once the money is out, they share it
There were just four of them in the
scheme
Secrecy was of paramount importance
and so was trust
They had convinced themselves that
the funds would have just laid there
unclaimed if they didn't claim it
Someone high up in the government 
would have embezzled the money
eventually
Since the deceased didn't process the
pension 
He or she probably never needed it
And since the family members of such
didn't come forward to claim the money,
they are either ignorant or too rich
to care about such
They processed at least forty cases every
month
Sometimes they shared between 40 to
100 million Naira every month
Before they got into the scheme
They went to a local herbalist and swore
an oat of secrecy
The mastermind who was also the 
highest placed in the organizational chart 
handpicked them and courted them
individually to be sure they would be
comfortable with the plan
Then he made them swear never to
divulge their secret to anyone either
in friendly or hostile condition
Anyone who tells does so at the
risk of sudden death
They took the oat in the presence of
the initiates of a very well feared and
renowned cult members in their shrine
None of them doubted the potency
of the oat
The mastermind made sure all the loose
ends were properly tied up
When they process a document, he would
personally conduct a side investigation
to be sure they didn't do a shady job
He also settles some other bosses higher
up but he shielded such bosses from
the others
To the team, he was the boss but when
they gather to share their loot every 
month, they only share half of the
loot equally
The other half goes for settlement
(That was what he told them)
They called their loot "Reparation"
They had an agreement never to
display their wealth for the world
to see
They bought lands secretly and 
started building vast estates
They registered shell companies
where they stashed their loot under
the leadership of trusted fronts
The mastermind coached them 
very well
He was asking a lady out
 at the time
She was nicknamed "Darego"
Her nickname stemmed from how
she looked
She was a beauty, a supermodel type
but she was like him
A local girl with a very limited command
of the English language
A lot of men wanted to be with 
Darego
They dont love her and she knows it
but beauty like hers cannot be kept
from men with money and power
While they were in school, lecturers
were the ones knocking that door
Some cult guys too
She had some sugar daddies too
This didn't stop him from loving her
He knew she was with them like
a hostage
All she had to peddle was her looks
and she was making hay while the
sun shone
He was sure she would give anything
to return to her studies and shun
all the predators
Her beauty was like a curse
He had known her since they were
in secondary school together
He had also watched her change
as she lost more and more of herself
to the men sleeping with her one
at a time
He completed his house within six
months
He equipped the house with the best
gadgets money could buy
He bought two exotic cars and  parked
them in the garage of the new house
He employed a driver, a cook, a gardener,
three house-keepers and a steward
They all called him Mr. Caretaker
He posed as the younger brother to the
facility who keeps the house for an
imaginary elder brother based in France
This was the front he presented to the
community where he built the house
The community was located in the 
outskirts of the city
He maintained a one-bedroom apartment
in the heart of the city as his own
official residence
One Saturday morning, he sent the
driver with an envelope to Darego's house
In the envelope was an invitation to
lunch and ten thousand dollars cash
The mastermind taught him the move
The mastermind told him Darego would
drop everything she was doing and
come to him
That was exactly what happened
By 2 pm that same day, the driver
arrived with Darego
He didn't need to say so much after
that
She followed the scent of the dollars
into his bedroom and they were having
sex within the hour
He told Darego afterward that he 
wanted her to stop entertaining other
men
He told her God has blessed him with
so much money and he could take care
of her all the days of her life
Darego listened to him in silence
She knew him, she knew him right from
secondary school
She wondered what he did to become
rich all of a sudden
He told her he had an uncle working
with Mobil in France
He told her the uncle died without
any children and bequeathed all his
wealth to him
He showed her documents to back
up his claim
The documents were convincing on
the surface
Only somebody with more than a
surface interest would make the
necessary inquiries that will prove
it to be fake
Darego was overwhelmed with joy
Finally, her peacock will get a place
of rest
Beauty shouldn't wallow in poverty
It was always her desire to find the
right person, close her legs and
settle down to life as a respectable
woman
She couldn't play slut all her life
She never went back to the room
she shared with her friends in
close to the school
She stayed with him
She became his woman
The outskirts kept her out of circulation
for six months
They finished their IT
The pension office converted him to
a low level staff
The mastermind was determined to
keep him because he had become
an asset
Darego was determined to return to
school for her HND with a bang
He wouldn't dare stop her from
enjoying his wealth
What excuse would he give?
He tried his best to explain to her that
because of cult boys and other leeches
in the society, she should keep a low
profile but it was too late
Her friends had started coming to the
house
His change of status had become an
open secret
Everyone started calling him T-Money
It was Darego's idea
She wanted her man to represent
His change in status had become an 
open secret, he found himself in a 
quandary
Eventually, people from his office got 
to know about his sudden wealth
He explained to them that his wife was 
from a wealthy background and she was 
the one that brought wealth into his life
He explained to his family members 
that someone he helped at work gave 
him a huge sum of money and this 
was what he traded forex with and 
became wealthy
Even his mother came to him one day 
asking him to explain the source of 
his wealth because rumor has it that 
he was involved in money ritual
A campus magazine decided to do a 
feature of the two of them
The story of Darego and T-Money
Darego had always fancied herself 
as a sort of celebrity
When she didn't have much and was 
sleeping with whoever could pay 
her next meal ticket, she was still 
featured in magazines
Now that she drives a Porsche and 
lives the life, she was making 
headlines
Beauty demands expression and 
so does wealth
They did the interview and it was 
a smash hit
The campus Blues magazine sold 
out within a few hours
The interview was his undoing
Someone recognized him on the 
front page of the magazine as the 
same guy who came to their house 
to make enquires about their father 
and his benefits
It was during the police pension 
scandal and the news was everywhere 
about pension scammers and all. 
The person got a lawyer and walked 
into the pension office
The document was released and to 
their chagrin it was classified as 
Claimant Paid 
A letter of petition was written and 
an investigation started
Within a week, other cases were 
unearthed 
He was at home two weeks after 
the interview having a barbecue get 
together with some friends when 
the police arrived
He was arrested for fraud
A panel was formed and an audit
was done
it was discovered that he was involved
in over 450 pension fraud cases
He was estimated to have defrauded
people of over 850 million Naira but
he was barely worth fifty million Naira
He was offered a plea deal to
name his cohorts but he couldn't
take it
The documents went through the
right channels and was vetted by
the right people
He was at the lowest rung of the 
ladder
All the accounts linked to him were
frozen 
his house and other assets were 
seized
It was obvious he had a team he was
working within the pension office
but nobody could be nailed unless
he was willing to testify against 
them
He kept his mouth shut
He was sentenced to twenty years
in prison
Darego returned to the streets 
His short dance with "money" ended
in 2006
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt met
him at a prison ministry outreach in 
2016
He had been in prison for eleven years
His body was in a very bad state
He had all forms of skin diseases
He said the deal they gave him at the
ministry of justice was still good
If he told them the names of his
partners in crime, the ministry will
set him free but he couldn't
He was afraid he was going to die
even before giving up the names
The brother in jeans and T-shirt told
him he was bound to the oath he took
but if he took a higher oath with 
sincerity, the previous oat would
become null and void
He asked what the higher oath was
all about
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt told
him about the complete salvation
that the name of Jesus offers
He listened intently and broke down
crying
He was born into the Christian home
and was part of the Christian fellowship
in the prison
He never understood that becoming
a born again Christian negates all
the previous covenants and oaths
he took while he was in the world
The Bother in Jeans and T-shirt
told him the game changer was the
Holy Spirit
Once a man receives the baptism
of the Holy Spirit with evidence of
Speaking in tongues, the power that
quickens such is within him and
therefore such cannot be afflicted
He believed
He gave his life to Christ and 
received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit
After a week, he called the 
appropriate authority and
his lawyer
He took the plea bargain
The rest of the assets were 
recovered and arrests made
In July 2017, he was set free

PS: He went searching for Darego
She was married with three 
children
He relocated to Lagos and teamed
up with another believer to 
start a business
They sell new and fairly used 
travel bags along Ikosi-road,
Ketu Lagos
He was diligent and very hard 
working
Within a year, he was able to
Stand on his own doing the 
same business

GSW's notes: I had some fraud
cases in the last one week
This got me alarmed
A man printed an ATM card in
a customer's name and used
the pin to collect from the 
account
An investigation was done
and he was caught
Another man transferred fund
from a friend's account without
the friend's consent simply
because he was working in the
bank and had access to the
account
The friend called customer 
service and the matter was 
escalated
A bank officer colluded with
some people to move 10 million
Naira from an account fraudulently
He has been arrested and 7.5 million
of the money recovered
It is rare to see a fraudster escape
with the loot
More often than not, such is set
back many years or broken by
the ordeal
The internet fraudster(s) arrested
recently in Dubai is a case in point
Fraud is never worth it
The thrill is like the unbilical cord
wrapped around the neck of a 
baby being pushed out of the womb
Most times, it will kill or damage the
baby
The blessings of God maketh rich
and adds no sorrow
As a believer, if you walk the walk as
you ought to and gain understanding
you will never be poor or in lack
all the days of your life
If you are reading this and you are
in one case of fraud or the other
please dont lose hope
Call upon the name of Jesus
He will save you and give you a 
brand new beginning